7
Water rushing through her hair, she is dwarfed by this massive humpback whale. She risks all to save the pod, plunging with the whale and thus earning her place as tribe leader.
Mostly modelling in wax, I also use natural objects such as old wood or stone as a starting point for my pieces. “Rebirth” for example started with piece of New Zealand driftwood, swallowed up by the sea, washed up on the shore, then transported across the globe…The wood inspired me to make the piece in iron resin, juxtaposing a rusty effect with steel to reflect its long journey of transformation a from an old piece of wood to new piece of art.
Other pieces such as "Taking the Plunge" and “Circle of life” also started from pieces of wood. The first is about risk taking and living life to the full. “Circle of life” explores the new emerging from the old. A woman lies sleeping peacefully in an old tree trunk, a baby growing in her belly.. An important theme running through all my work is the exploration of man's inextricable bond with the natural world; its power, beauty and delicate balance. Mother Earth must be protected and nurtured, not destroyed.
Taking the Plunge by Claire Nelson
Despite a difficult relationship with my mother, Helen Collis, I have to pay tribute to her and the energy, drive and fighting spirit she instilled in me without which I would probably not have chosen the path of an artist. Sculptor and teacher in Brighton for over 20 years, she was one of the founding members of 5-Ways studios, an influential group of artists exhibiting at the Brighton Festival.
Since joining the SSS, by chance I discovered that Teresa Martin, having met Helen when she was pregnant with Abby, eventually took over her class at City College Brighton. When the course closed down, she salvaged my mother’s mallet and kindly returned it to me. Fitting that my mother’s sculpture tool should find it’s way “home” to me through the SSS after all these years.
Her final piece, “the Juggler” was completed while she was dying. Inaugurated at Hove Town Hall, Sussex, in 1997 shortly after her untimely death at the age of 57, the sculpture was a good metaphor for the life of a woman who constantly took risks, did a fine a balancing act and achieved the seemingly impossible.
Rebirth by Claire Nelson